Confederate tax in Alabama

More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for a park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the "Lost Cause," although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

A Confederate flag graces a soldiers grave stone in Cemetary One at the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for the park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

Patrons exit the museum at the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for the park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

Confederate Memorial Park Director Bill Rambo talks with visitors outside the library at the park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for the park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

Confederate Memorial Park Director Bill Rambo looks at a display in the museum at the park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for the park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

Confederate battle flags fly outside the museum at the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for the park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

Groundskeeper Clint McDonald mows the grass in Cemetary No. 2 at the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for Confederate Memorial Park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

A welcoming stone tablet and gracefully tall pine trees greet visitors to the Confederate Memorial Park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for Confederate Memorial Park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.

AP Photo

Confederate Memorial Park Cemetary No. 1 is pictured at the park in Mountain Creek, Ala., Tuesday, July 19, 2011. More than 60,000 Confederate veterans came home to Alabama after the Civil War, and residents are still paying a tax that supported them 150 years after the fighting began. The tax now pays for the park, which is located on the same 102-acre tract where elderly veterans used to stroll. The tax once brought in millions for Confederate pensions, but lawmakers sliced up the levy and sent money elsewhere as the men and their wives died. No one has seriously challenged the continued use of the money for a memorial to the “Lost Cause,” although a long-serving black legislator wants to eliminate state funding for the park.